Oriented Sorghum Strand Boards made with Sorghum Stalks and Processes for Making Same

Abstract

A composite board having a sorghum stalk material component and a binder component is disclosed together with a corresponding method of manufacture. To prepare the composite board, the sorghum stalk material is harvested, dried and refined into fibers. The fibers are then combined with a binder such as a thermosetting resin. The resin coated fibers are then arranged into a stack having several layers. Within each layer, the resin coated fibers are aligned along a predetermined layer axis. Next, the stack is thermocompressed in a press at a preselected temperature to compress the resin coated fibers to a preselected board thickness.

Description

[0001]This application claims priority to provisional U.S. patent application No. 61 / 544,856 filed Oct. 7, 2011 titled “Oriented Strand Boards made with Sorghum Stalks and Processes for Making Same.” This application is related to provisional U.S. patent application No. 61 / 544,884 filed Oct. 7, 2011 titled “Composite Boards made with Sorghum Stalks and a Thermoplastic Binder and Processes for making same.” The entire contents of provisional application 61 / 544,856 and provisional application 61 / 544,884 are hereby incorporated by reference herein.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention pertains generally to composite boards. More particularly, the present invention pertains to composite boards having oriented agrifiber strands. The present invention is particularly, but not exclusively, useful as an oriented sorghum strand board (OSSB) made from sorghum stalk material and a binder.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of coarse, upright grow...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0040]Once coated, the binder coated sorghum stalk material can be oriented and layered. A typical pre-compressing layer depth in the range of about 4 to 5 inches may be used, with each layer oriented orthogonal to adjacent layers. Layers may be stacked directly on a release coated press platen or the layers may be stacked and then placed onto the platen. A single layer or multiple layers may be used. In one aspect, at least three layers are used. In another aspect, an odd number of layers are used. One or more layers may have stalk material randomly oriented. In one aspect, exterior

Problems solved by technology

Similar wood growth can take many years.

However, the supply of Sorghum stalks and sorghum stalk bagasse greatly exceeds demand, and as a consequence, a large amount of this material is either plowed under or burned.

It not only pollutes the air, but emits greenhouse gases (GHGs) linked to the current climate crisis.

Products such as traditional wood-based OSB made with resins such as UF and PF which release formaldehyde and other volati

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